Los Arcos de Hermano

There will always be that one place where you'll feel the wedding nostalgia (next to the church, of course. Haha!). It could be that spot where he proposed, or the site where you had your prenup photoshoot, or the stage where you had your first dance. As for me, that's Los Arcos de Hermano - the resort where we prepared 24 hours before the wedding, and the venue where we entertained hundreds of guests. But for me, the nostalgia in there is not only the kilig feeling, but the whole experience in a bridezilla-supplier relationship, from day 1 (snotiness to happiness, aarrrgh to yeyyyy, stress to fun, something like that. Haha!).

---

Supplier Story #4: Los Arcos de Hermano

We discovered Los Arcos through kym, our photographer's wife (and lou's cousin). Since her husband is the very first supplier we booked, kym was active at the early part of the preparations. But she was particular about just one thing - we should get a reception venue that's spacious enough for a guest count (we were projecting 250 that time), and professionally-friendly enough to meet our  -- and her husband's -- 'reception mechanics'. When she found Los Arcos, which was just ironically a few steps from her husband's studio all this time, she was so ecstatic that we had to check it out right away, thinking, 'kym liked the place, therefore it must be good!'

And so we checked it out - that was March 2012. There we found the explanation why no one (not even kym) knew this place before - it's new! So new that it's not even open yet. It was scheduled to open the following month - Some areas were still under construction, and it was still almost bare as there were no much greens yet. I instantly liked Francisco Hall -  It is spacious, lighting is good, it has zero corkage for alcohol and lechon, and it's really affordable --especially when you book an accredited caterer (VS&F is one of them!).

So with no reviews, and just trust in our gut feel, we instantly booked it. 

Few months after that,  bridezilla worries started creeping in:

1) I started hearing rumors that the smell in the air can go really bad as it is situated beside a hog and poultry business. So we checked the venue one more time, and confirmed that the rumor was true! AHK! 

But we've already gone so far in the preparations (include in there the taxing wedding-related LQs that boiled down to this smell issue). The least we can do was to convince ourselves that getting Los Arcos was the best decision: Lou and I visited Los Arcos several times more (specifically in the afternoon, same time of our wedding) and I didn't smell anything in the vicinity of Francisco hall. At some points, I did smell something outdoors, but that was out of my goal to really sniff for it like a dog (haha!). All guests we brought there to 'test' if 'something' is off, didn't notice anything too (we didn't tell them what was that, until we left - so there would be no bias!). 

Next, we consulted Lou's aunt who works for the government, and asked if there is a way to at least request for a cleanup from the neighboring businesses on the big day. She said, it's impossible, the hog and poultry business has been in that agricultural vicinity long before the resort was put up and so they will never bend for Los Arcos. Finally, we went to the nearby (and only) competitor resort, which was about 1-2 kms away, and we discovered that the same tinge of smell is also present - We finally concluded that we never had a choice to begin with, and having a wedding in the agri-city of San Jose del Monte, which just has 2 decent resorts for weddings, means embracing that agri-smell as well (...which was -- most of the time -- unnoticeable anyway). 

2) As I did my constant redrafting of the floor layout, I realized that Francisco hall isn't that spacious for 250 guests. And the opinions from different people didn't help at all. In one visit, the receptionist told us that the hall is for 200 pax, maximum. Lou's cousin, on the other hand, said that 250 will definitely fit. Officially, Los Arcos management claims that it's good for 200, or 250 when "compressed a bit". At that time, no info was reliable because it hasn't actually tried such huge crowd!

It was confusing, we had no idea if we had to cut down the no. of guests ...and we didn't know who to kick out of our original list when that happens! I'm sure my married/engaged friends out there can relate -- trimming the guest list is a nightmare in wedding planning.

But Grace, the manager, continuously updated me about the capacity, based on the resort's events as they went (her sweet voice and calming aura was a big help!). She reported that in one debut, 21 tables were able to fit (210 pax), with some more space left at the back. Then, at the start of 2012's last quarter, she reported that one politician was able to make an event for 230 people - and there's even a little more space left. But there was no aisle, and the buffet table was setup outdoors -- which was fine. We couldn't hope forever, so finally, Grace, Lou and I stopped that tedious "space stretching" task, and settled with 240 - which meant we just had to trim the list by 10 -- not bad!

My last visit to this place prior to the wedding was on my birthday week (late November). I toured my mom and my sister in Lou's hometown and finally showed this resort, and it turned out to be a really good idea -because bringing first timers to a venue means getting positive feedbacks that bridezillas hardly see. They both liked the venue. According to them, the reception venue is huge and the aura of the resort is very filipiniana / "probinsyang probinsya" /  "amoy probinsya". I hardly contained my laughter! That's it (Keyword: filipiniana). Los Arcos de Hermano was for us. Case closed. hahaha!

---

THE DAY came - I watched by the bridal suite's window as the caterer's trucks came in to unload our tables and chairs, and as my bridesmaids came in one by one, looking for their assigned rooms. As for Lou, who had all the freedom to walk/run around the resort, he saw how Francisco hall transformed from nothing to something really special. It was a busy and happy morning!

Fast forward to our reception - There was just one thing that didn't go well - The sound system, that went with the venue's package freebies. It went choppy several times during the program, and it was not loud enough to reach the back. Lou and I partly blamed ourselves for not checking this thoroughly  - we did a sound check day before but we did not test it long enough to catch choppy outputs. We also didn't take into consideration the huge crowd's voices that would compete with it. We should have gotten a sounds supplier outside.

But generally, I was happy with how our venue turned out, mainly because all 24 tables were able to fit (2 of which are VIP tables). We even had some space below our stage for our upbeat first dance! (Kapag Tumibok ang Puso by Toni Gonzaga! hahaha!).

Secondly,  our quite complicated filipiniana reception plan -- having lechon baka, sorbetes cart, kiddie pool of assorted beers, etc (all from DIFFERENT suppliers) -- turned into reality, without glitches ...and without any corkage fees!

Lastly, it smelled BEER all over, all night! Uhm okay, I don't think that's good, but hey, that's some indication of FUN! haha!

---

Last maundy thursday, we went back to Los Arcos de Hermano just to have adobong kambing. When we got there -- for the first time since our wedding -- I had this unexplainable feeling. I guess it's my memory of that 10-month relationship with the place, which revolved around being dead tired AND happy at the same time. Those 2 extreme things pretty much define the nostalgia I was talking about. :)

...that is why Los Arcos de Hermano will always hold a special place in our hearts :)

For more photos of Los Arcos de Hermano Resort, click on the following:

Preparations

Reception